Berry Sweet Bath & Body

I hate to admit this, but with everything going on over here, I almost forgot about this one...

We'll be at the Islandwide Spring Craft, Gift & Food Expo at the Neil Blaisdell Exhibition Hall in booth #508 and possibly #507. The hours are friday from 5pm to 10pm, saturday from 10am to 9pm and sunday from 10am to 5pm.

For those of you who've been emailing me with your requests, please check your mailboxes for my replies. Pick up is available at the show, just let me know when you're coming.

I understand many of you are waiting for our etsy store to be open. We sincerely apologize about the delay - we've been buried under family matters and will work on it this coming month.

Otherwise, I've been blending more fragrances and I have to tell you that I'm pretty proud of our most recent one - Mambo No. 2. Hubby said its too much of and inside joke but I still think its appropriate so that's what it is. Its a spin off of our new melon mambo scent so its almost like melon mambo version 1.5. I can't remember if I've already blogged about the other three new scents that I've blended so I might as well go into all of them:

Melon Mambo - I was looking for a mixed melon and citrus kind of scent. I'm sick to death of cucumber melon almost to the point where I turn a little green behind the gills whenever I smell it. So, instead of letting a good scent go unused and unloved, I decided to blend it. As a result, Melon Mambo does have a base of cucumber melon, and it also has notes of watermelon and citrusy starfruit. The result is a soft and intriguingly playful scent. Originally blended for our puppy line but we'll see.

Lemon Cupcake - a sweet and fresh blend of angel food cake, luscious, sweet and creamy lemon curd and for good measure a touch of lavender and vanilla. Lavender and vanilla, you say? Yes, I was surprised at how the addition of those two little essential oils could make this already great scent combination any better. Sometimes, it pays to keep looking around! This was also originally blended for our puppy line BUT how sassy would that be to go around smelling like a luscious lemon cupcake?

Lavender Mint - this was definitely blended for our puppy line. Its a combination of lavender, vanilla and peppermint essential oils. Seems to be a hit or miss with the testers but I still like it. I think I'm going to tone down the peppermint a little bit, though. I think if I still like it, I may put it in a shampoo bar this winter season.

Mambo No. 2 - I really wanted to put a feminine twist to melon mambo. While I thought it would be perky as a perfume, I just didn't think that it had that "something" about it that would make it "wow." So, I toned down the cucumber and honeydew melon base a bit, kept the watermelon and startfruit at around the same levels, and added hints of sweet pineapple and soft rice flowers. Now, we're cooking with gas! The rice flowers add a soft, powdery floral sweetness to the blend and the pineapple acts to tame the tangy starfruit. I think if you like our fragrances like summer love, you might want to give this one a try soon.

If you'd like to sniff our newest fragrances, I will have them with me this weekend. Production will start on them for the Made in Hawai'i Festival in August.

Okay, I think that's it for now! Hope to see some of you this weekend!

Okay, after many moons of thinking, we've decided to take the plunge! We're going to open a shop on etsy. We are registered under our old name of berrysweetdesigns as berry sweet was too vague and the name generator wouldn't allow it. Interestingly enough, there's another shop called berrysweetstuff that's selling - you got it - bath and body products so please don't get us mixed up!

Anyway, we're only going to list a couple of items here and there on our shop. This includes some one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces that I've made over the years. For items that you think I probably have but aren't listed on the etsy site, you can always convo or email me and i can put them up for you as a special order so you can purchase in comfort. Via our etsy store, we will be accepting paypal. For all of you who are emailing orders in, you can use paypal as a form of payment as well. I'll tell you all about it when you order.

The bath & body items that are going to be on the site are our cuticle balm in mango tea and wasabi bliss, lip scrub in mojito, green tea smoothie and brown sugar, lip balm in 6-7 flavors, 4oz body mist in jasmine green tea, mango tea, summer love, sweet lavender and wasabi bliss. Many of you know that I have so much more, so please, just ask! We don't want to show too much to the outside world just yet.

For our current inventory, we have avaiable:

-4oz and 1oz body mist in jasmine green tea, mango tea, summer love, sweet lavender and wasabi bliss
-boo boo balm in twist up tubes or 1/2oz tins
-lip scrub in mojito, green tea smoothie, pearberry, strawberry lime, brown sugar, and vanilla latte
-mango butter lip balm in about 24 different flavors
-solid perfume compact in summer love, kiele kai, wasabi bliss, jasmine green tea, sweet lavender, poshie, kudzu & ginger and mango tea.
-shampoo bars in juicy pear, summer love, and island girl. I think I also have some starfruit but don't quote me on that one.
-handmade soaps in mango tea, satsuma guava and jasmine green tea
-travel massage bars in starfruit, summer love, sweet lavender and eucalyptus spearmint
-cuticle balm in wasabi bliss and mango tea
-1oz waterless hand sanitizer in satsuma guava, mango tea and holiday berry
-deluxe travel sets in jasmine green tea, mango tea, summer love, sweet lavender and wasabi bliss.
-takeout box gift sets in jasmine green tea, mango tea, satsuma guava, summer love, sweet lavender and wasabi bliss
-our medium oval sampler buckets in jasmine green tea, mango tea, satsuma guava, summer love, sweet lavender and wasabi bliss.
-hot cocoa bubble bath in individual packets or sets of 4

Items that can be made upon request:
-8oz sugar shower gel
-8.5oz body souffle
-12oz room & linen spray
-8oz conditioning shampoo
-small & medium reed diffuser sets
-reed diffuser refills

Items to look out for:
In honor of our new puppy, sadie, we've re-released our pet line. I have mixed three new scents to go with it, but one of them smells so good that I think it may cross over into the human product side. Then again, our "pet" stuff is so mild that people can use them, too! I know I have. BTW, sadie is our new puppy, we've had her for just over a month now. Yes, it is like having two kids in the house. Sadie is a tibetan spaniel and currently weighs in at 6 pounds.

On that note, Kira is doing well. She'll be 18 months on saturday. Hard to believe that a year ago, she was beginning to crawl her way around the store! My how time flies. Sadly, she won't be making many appearances this year at the shows. She's in that difficult to control period and for her own safety (and ours!), we've decided to keep her home or at grandma and grandpas this year.

I am going crazy blending new scents! So far, I've created three new ones with more to come. Roll on perfumes are definitely going to be back with all of our special touches. I do promise to make more summer love, love and holiday berry ones this year, too!

All the old favorites will be back in stock in time for made in hawaii in august. We are doing the islandwide during the first weekend in may at the blaisdell. We might do okinawan the last saturday in April BUT we'll see.

Okay, that's enough rambling for now. Mommy duties call - kira's got class in 20 minutes!

If you need anything, just email me through our website at www.berry-sweet.com!

A belated Happy New Year to all of you out there!

Sorry to be so absent lately but things have been a little crazy on this end.

I want to say thank you to all of you for standing by us through a very crazy year. Thank you for all of your words of support when I decided to make motherhood my priority and thank you for your continued support when you trekked out to the various craft shows to come and find us. I can't tell you how much all of that has meant to me and my family. Its truly amazing that in this time of crunched finances, many of you chose us to spend your precious dollars with. My gratitude and appreciation is unending.

2008 has come and gone and it was one crazy ride. A quick little recap for all of us. We closed the store in april because the demands of being a parent and trying to balance and grow a business proved to be a challenge I wasn't doing so well at. It seemed more often than not that while paying attention to one, the other suffered so I made a choice and closed the store. It was rough for a couple of months. I viewed closing the store as a failure on my behalf for a while but have eventually come to see it the way my husband and family had seen it all along - a good strategic step in the right direction.

I still miss it in many ways. I still get a little pang of sadness when I drive by the old shop. BUT I don't miss looking for parking or trying to figure out how I'm going to take care of kira and pour a thousand tubes of lip balm.

We changed the way we do business to suit our new lifestyle (being parents!) and in many ways this is so much better. Yes, I do miss the consistent flow of income that the store brought to us but that just means that I need to learn to budget a little better. So we're continuing to do craft shows and wholesale orders. To contact us, emailing us through our website is best over calling. I can't always get to the phone or answering machine but emails go directly to my phone and I can usually send a quick response within a few minutes of receiving it.

With the changes in how we do business has come many positive things. I can eliminate products that don't move so well and concentrate on those that do. I've been able to create new scents and bring them to the market faster than before. I have been able to experiment more with new ideas like our solid perfume and roll on perfumes. On a personal level, being a work-from-home mommy has brought us a happy, intelligent and inquisitive little girl who loves collecting rocks, dancing and running. My work day has changed from 11am to 4pm to 9pm-3am, but well, that's life!

Last year was a re-evaluate and get-stable-first-before-trying-to-expand year. Now, I think I've got my bearings about me a little more clearly. A plan is coming into view for 2009...

We are going to start our year off with the islandwide spring show in the beginning of may. Then, we're going to do made in hawaii in august, season's best in october, diamond head arts & craft show and the islandwide craft & food expo in november. We will end our year with a private show in the beginning of december. Unless something comes up (like another baby?), this is what we're looking at this year.

I think that we will stick to our existing fragrance line up - jasmine green tea, mango tea, satsuma guava, summer love, sweet lavender and wasabi bliss for another year. Wasabi bliss is on the board to be re-blended and re-released under its new name, wasabi blossom. It will be a very clean and refreshing unisex floral, similar to jasmine green tea but more lemony and less green. Sweet lavender and mango tea haven't been performing as well as before BUT they are consistent so they get a reprieve.

I was surprised at how well roll on perfume did last year so I've brought in twice as many bottles and plan starting their production earlier. I'll keep doing solid perfumes as long as I've got those compacts. I'm discovering that I'm really loving blending and making perfumes.

We are discontinuing our sprayable lotion. I thought it a great product but many seem to find it too unusual. Our sweet escape pods will be one product down this year.

There are a couple of other ideas I'm toying with and I'll tell you more about them later.

So, what have I been up to in the past month?

Well, Kira is now 16 months old. We're still doing gymboree. We're also looking at dance class and/or gymnastics for her in a couple of months as well as swimming lessons. Sounds ambitious but it really isn't. She's a rough-and-tumble kind of little girl who loves dancing and music. She loves the zoo and the seals at sea life park. I've just introduced her to fingerpaints which she absolutely loves!

I have also taught myself to knit (with Sandy looking over my work periodically, telling me what I need to work on as far as technique). I am currently working on a blanket for kira. Nothing too ambitious, just knit and purl stitches only. I swear I can crochet faster than I can knit. I also want to try doll making next.

I am also working on little hair clippies for her and if they are super cute, I may be making more to sell this year.

What about jewelry? Well, I still have so many design ideas stuck in my head and no real time to work on it. I miss it and still want to get it done so we'll see what we end up with this year. I do know that my designs are reflecting the way my life is going - more and more simplified, streamlined and easy-to-wear. Easy-to-wear meaning, you can wear it with almost anything and it looks great. I really want to focus on earrings and necklaces again. I find myself moving away from traditional sterling silver chains and looking to more organic materials like woven cotton cords. I still want to get my mommy and me lines done.

A couple of friends have also been suggesting I write a book about the whole pregnancy/mommy/marriage thing. They feel I have a lot of funny anecdotes about becoming parents and words of wisdom when it comes to redefining a sense of self once the little one comes along BUT the hoops required for getting published is daunting! In the meantime, I have a little folder on my computer in which I "chapter" when the mood strikes.

My work times have shifted from the day time to 9pm to 3am. My work day starts when kira goes to bed for the night. Hubby works all day so it doesn't feel right making him take care of kira when he gets home so I wait until she's asleep to start working. She wakes up at about 7:30am and hubby takes her for an hour in the morning so I can sleep just a little longer. I make it a point to call it quits at 3am. In preparation for made in hawaii last year, I worked through the night and by the time I got to bed, I had been up for 40 hours. I'm too old to be doing that kind of thing already.

It always feels like there's never enough time to do what I would like to do. I keep reminding myself that kira's only going to be a baby once and there's more than enough time to do all of this when she's a little older. So thank you again for being so patient and supportive about what I can and have been able to do with my limited mommy time.

I'll write again soon!

So we're filling those orders that we've been receiving via email for the past week. Everyone seems to really want our reed diffusers! For anyone who still wants to place an order, provided that its reasonable, there's still time!

We are also in the process of filling custom gift basket and wholesale orders, too. And I thought my production schedule was over for the year. But that's great! Better to be busy than not busy.

I am happy to announce that Noelani Elementary School's Math Club will be joining us tomorrow for their fall fundraiser. They will be selling foaming hand soaps (the main reason why we didn't do them this year - we didn't want to compete with them!) and small paper sachets (the mini versions of the larger paper sachets we had this year). The small paper sachets are a great alternative to our car & room freshener beads, which we are almost completely sold out on (we have literally 12-18 left at best for tomorrow). So for those of you who were looking for our foaming hand soaps or if you know of anyone who is or was looking for them, please let them know about tomorrow! Its a wonderful cause and the kids are ever so enthusiastic and adorable! They did these soaps last year, too, and this year is no different. They did the cost analysis to figure out all their profit margins, did the market research to figure out which scents would be best to go with and with their little hands, made everything. I am ashamed to admit that I've been too busy with our end to help them personally other than instructions and doing the ordering for them but hubby has been around first hand to help them with everything and he said its so cute and they are so excited about tomorrow. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help me make this a good experience for them and come an support our future business leaders.

Okay, so just to recap, we will be at Waialae Elementary School Library tomorrow, december 6th from 9am to 3pm. Waialae Elementary is located between harding and pahoa avenues, between 19th & 20th avenues. The entrance to the library and the parking lot is on harding.

We will have, in addition to our usual offerings, all non-berry sweet made items such as rubber duckies, bath fizzers, bubble bath confetti (including holiday shapes), bath time kits (like the ones sold at waialae school's fund day in april) and handmade cards by jill honda. Our mailing list will be available for anyone who would like to be added and we will even have a little gift with purchase for you (while supplies last, of course), too.

Items we still have available for sale:

handmade soap - jasmine green tea, mango tea and satsuma guava - fresh mint sold out, quantity discount available.

silk & soy shampoo bars - island girl, fresh mint, jasmine green tea, starfruit, juicy pear, summer love - wasabi & applelicious are sold out

travel massage bars - satsuma guava, starfruit, sweet lavender and eucalyptus spearmint, quantity discount available, same as at shows.

sweet escape pods - wasabi bliss and jasmine green tea only, will be at lower price

1oz waterless hand cleansers - all available except satsuma guava

mango butter lip balms

cuticle balm in wasabi bliss only, will be at lower price

lip scrubs - small and large sizes will be available. large size will be at lower price.

soap rose topiaries - small and large in limited quantities

gotta-have-it bucket samplers - jasmine green tea, sweet lavender, wasabi bliss, and mango tea only, new lower price break.

little sampler bucket - all fragrances available, new lower price break.

takeout box sampler - wasabi bliss and mango tea only, will be at lower price.

goodie bags - all fragrances available in limited quantities, including holiday berry, new lower price break.

deluxe travel packs - all fragrances available at new lower price.

small reed diffusers - by special order only

boo boo balm - tubes and pots available in limited quantities

large sachets - chamomile blossom only and in limited quantities

body souffle - 1oz singles in mango tea, summer love and sweet lavender only, souffle trio in "sweet florals" only - 4 total left, has summer love, sweet lavender and jasmine green tea. 8.5oz available by special order only, limited availability.

roll on perfumes - sweet nothings, kudzu & ginger, jasmine green tea and sweet lavender in limited quantities

solid perfume - kiele kai, kudzu & ginger, sweet lavender, jasmine green tea, wasabi bliss, mango tea, and poshie. only selected fragrances will on special pricing, which ones are to be determined.

hot cocoa frothy bubble bath mix - singles and pre-wrapped 4 packs in limited supply

bath fizzers - all available, new lower price

bubble bath confetti - new holiday shapes will be avaiable at new lower price

bathtime kit (includes rubber duck, 3 packs of bubble bath confetti and 3 packs of bath fizzers)

rubber duckies and miscellaneous plush

Okay, I think that's it or at least all I can remember for now! Back to work with me and hopefully we'll see you tomorrow!

carri

Well, we made it past another thanksgiving weekend and another islandwide craft and food expo! I really want to say thank you to all of you who came out and supported us with not only your hard earned money but with your kind words. Thank you especially to those of you who braved the mini-hurricane like weather to be with us on saturday - I have no clue what it was like but I heard it was crazy.

We are having our Berry Sweet Holiday Show this coming saturday, December 6th between 9am and 2pm at Waialae Elementary School. We will be in the library and have made arrangements to have the parking lot open so we don't have to fight for residential parking spaces. Come and join us as we celebrate the end of another holiday season (for us, anyway) with a sale on certain items (non-seasonal items and special orders will not be part of the sale), door prizes, product demonstrations as time permits, and whatever else strikes our fancy. Basically, its an anything goes. Teri will be there in the morning to help us and Jill will be there to sell her handmade cards ad gift tags. And for those of you who have been asking, yes, we will have some of the "not-made-by-carri's-two-hands" items there for sale, too. Oh, and we will also have berry sweet designs jewelry available for sale.

Our paper sachets, car & room fresheners, 8.5oz body souffle, reed diffusers, sugar shower gels, and drawer buds have all sold out. We have limited availability of roll on perfume, solid perfume, 1oz body souffle, sweet escape pods, souffle samplers, body mist samplers, room & linen spray, shampoo bars, handmade soap, gotta-have-it! bucket samplers, and rose topiaries. Manufactured items that will be available for purchase are our bath confetti, bath fizzers, and rubber duckies.

Items that will definitely be on sale are our little sampler buckets - these contain a 2oz bottle of sprayable lotion, a waterless hand cleanser, lip balm, cuticle balm, lip scrub and a rubber duck. I just found a basket full of chamomile blossom scented sachet grains so I'll be putting them into envelopes and marking them for sale. Well, that's just a little teaser for you. You'll find out the rest when you get there.

For any of you who would like to place orders for pick up on the 6th, please feel free to email me through our website at www.berry-sweet.com. We are definitely taking special orders for reed diffusers. Anything else that you are looking for, just ask!

Again, thank you so much for all of your support!

carri

First of all, I really wanted to say thank you for all of your continued support and encouragement!

So...

our roll on perfumes are ready to go. that yet-to-be-named scent has been named! it is now officially known as "sweet nothings," and I cannot stop sniffing that bottle! I wonder if they have a support group for scent addictions. Hhhmmm, maybe sniffer's anonymous. anyway, I have managed to tear my nose away from the bottle long enough to write this post.

as I am becoming more proficient at fragrance blending, I am also becoming profoundly aware of my scent preferences. for example, when I hear the term "oriental" in regards to fragrances, I think of overly cloying fragrances with massive floral notes, sandalwood and/or ambergris bases and an unending desire to grab a bottle of tylenol while running for the hills. I always thought I was a "fruity/floral" or straight "fruity" kinda girl. apparently, not so. while exploring my chosen scent blends, especially the two this past couple of months - kudzu & ginger and sweet nothings - I am forced to face my deepest fear: I love oriental-style fragrances. Okay, for those of you who are scratching their heads and raising an eyebrow at this particular paragraph, I will digress and clarify...

lately, I have become obsessed with fragrance blending. I think since we closed the shop, I've been forced to stare at exactly how many different fragrances we have and well, either boredom or the need to procrastinate further takes over. I open a bottle, feeling that I can improve it and make it "my own." and there it goes from there - kudzu & ginger alone took 12 separate components to create. I see how much many of you enjoy our fragrances and well, its very satisfying and rewarding. I've always loved perfumes and by the way our solid perfumes are selling, apparently, many of you do, too! I still remember how well our roll on perfumes sold last year and this year, the bottles are glass with sweet little beads in them for added enjoyment. In spite of price increases, I am still planning to keep them at last year's prices. I do eventually want to create an eau de toilette line, but well, hubby and I are having discussions on the merits of adding a spray perfume to the line. if you've got an opinion on the matter please say so.

oh, last thing on the roll on perfume, as a last minute addition, I also have holiday berry (raspberries, orange, currant, and white musk) and love (a classic favorite from our signature 8 that I nixed back in april) will be available in limited quantities.

okay, for islandwide next weekend. I am planning to bring full-size product for those of you who've been asking. I am planning on 8.5oz body souffle, 8oz shower gel, 4oz body mist, 8oz hand soap, and 12oz room & linen sprays. if you'd like to preorder, please shoot me an email with your request, name, contact phone number and date you'd like to pick up. Please keep in mind that we're restricting these to our signature six fragrances - satsuma guava, mango tea, sweet lavender, summer love, jasmine green tea and wasabi bliss. you can email me through our website at www.berry-sweet.com.

travel packs are ready to go! this year we have updated our travel packs. we have swapped our our hand & body lotion for our waterless hand cleanser (you still have body souffle as your moisturizer), we still have our sugar shower gel and conditioning shampoo in there as well as our body souffle and mango butter lip balm. the new additions are cuticle balm and lip scrub. the price is going to be $17.50 each (last year it was $15 but we've added $6.50 more in product to our new travel pack so we think its a deal!), and we'll do a special on it for those of you who'd like to purchase some as gifts. Of course, they are still in their cute little zippered pouch.

car & room fresheners. we have some new fragrances for your sampling pleasure - juicy pear, holiday thyme and holiday cheer will be joining the line up. shave ice is making its last debut and once its gone, its gone! I believe tropical island may have sold out at KCC earlier this month.

reed diffusers will be there as well. since small outsells medium by a mile, we've decided to bring only small. medium will be available by special order only. we will be bringing some refills with us since many of you have been asking. we have created a holiday berry reed diffuser in honor of the holiday season and it is limited to 12 diffusers.

I think that's it for now!

carri

So we're right back in the swing of things here. Later on this morning, we have the Diamond Head Arts & Craft Show at Kapiolani Community College. We'll be in booth #145.

We have a few new things coming up in this show. Namely, we have our goodie bags! We did have to remove the hand lotion to keep the price down, but hey, its still an excellent value for the money and an excellent little gift for those that you're not quite sure what to get. They are available in the six signature fragrances (jasmine green tea, mango tea, satsuma guava, summer love, sweet lavender, and wasabi bliss), and just for the holidays, holiday berry has made a re-appearance as well!

Solid perfumes are back in stock. Looking more than adorable in their new compacts and packaging! Very sleek, if I do say so myself, and very classy, too. I couldn't resist, I made 10 fragrances. I know its a lot to choose from but I was having so much fun and just couldn't stop myself. So the fragrances are, in addition to our six signatures, kiele kai, sweet pikake, poshie, and kudzu & ginger. These are limited editions because if I wanted to get these same compacts, I'd have to order about 10-15K of them and hubby would have a kitten over having to store that many of them so needless to say, when they're gone, unless I can aquire only a couple thousand, they will be gone. I'll still find a container for our solid perfumes, but they may not be quite this cute.

Okay, our two new fragrances. What can I say? I got inspired at the 11th hour and started blending again. Kudzu & ginger came about because I wanted to blend a fragrance that, I felt or had hoped, would capture the spirit and light of my little daughter, kira. I wanted something floral, but a sweet and delicate floral, not heavy to daunting. I wanted something a little earthy drydown and maybe just a hint of berries. Well, what I ended up with was absolutely enchanting but the drydown was a little too sensual and, dare I say it, a little too sexy to be named after my 13-month old daughter. So, kudzu & ginger it is. This fragrance has a heart of the sweet kudzu blossom, top notes of luscious fresh white ginger flowers, a hint of blushing jasmine, a touch of black berries and tuberose and a base of vetiver and oakmoss. We introduced this one at the Season's Best show at the end of october with resounding success. Needless to say, I'm very happy about this one and we may even see this one in the line up next year.

The second new fragrance, I haven't named yet. Its a combination of jasmine, earthy brown sugar, a touch of sweet figs, lily of the valley, a hint of plumeria and a little freesia for good luck. Enchanting and alluring, to say the least and it will be available thanksgiving weekend in...

Roll on perfumes! We finally got a hold of some glass roll on perfume bottles. Before you go "Glass???," I just want to say that I've been toting this little sucker around for a month now without any leaks or breakage. Packaged like last year, we are offering seven fragrances for your perfuming pleasure - kudzu & ginger, sweet lavender, summer love, holiday berry (just for the holidays!), jasmine green tea, love, and that yet-to-be-named scent. Oh, did I forget to mention that I put a beautiful combination of glass beads in each bottle, just for your entertainment? They are beginning to look like little works of art in a bottle. I just love looking at them on my work table - its almost a pity to label them and put them in their boxes.

Drawer Buds will be ready at the thanksgiving show as well. Think of our car & room fresheners except miniaturized. They are simply adorable and sold in sets of 3. Each set is boxed in a clear takeout box and tied with a festive ribbon, of course. We have three scents available. Poshie with dried dark pink rose petals, Lavender (not our sweet lavender, but a beautiful lightly herbal lavender) with lavender buds, and chamomile blossom with calendula flower petals. These are of limited quantity as well and we're looking at about 25 of each for the year.

Holiday lip balm flavors are going to be available for sale starting today. We have candy cane, peppermint bark and peppermint frosting. All of them seriously yummy.

Our car & room fresheners. It is with a heavy heart that I say we just bagged the last of our shave ice scented beads. But, on the flip side, we have new ones to entertain you with named "island cutie" and "juicy pear." We will have two holiday scents available soon - holiday thyme and mistletoe. These will be appropriately packaged in holiday themed cello bags.

Soap, glorious soap! After an almost two year hiatus from soap making, I finally did it! We have curing in our workroom, 4 double batches of our cold process soap. We have jasmine green tea, satsuma guava and mango tea. For those of you thrill seekers out there, we also have a fresh mint, created with peppermint essential oil, a touch of menthol, eucalyptus and spearmint. For added zing, I've even thrown in some ground peppermint leaves, which give the soap a leafy green hue. Needless to say, do not use this one on the face! Hubby has been bugging me for months to make a "cooling" soap and well, it does feel pretty brisk and wonderful on those hot muggy days we've been having lately.

Anyway, its just after 1am and I have to be up in five hours to get ready and get to KCC for the craft show. Take care and I hope to see all of you soon!

carri

Well, we made it through Kira's first birthday party and its on to wholesale orders, special orders and prepping for upcoming shows. Funny that I'm busier now that I ever was when I we had the shop.

By the way, for those of you who still don't know - we closed the shop back in April. Surprisingly, we're still getting calls about where the shop is and what our hours are. From what I understand, the shop is now a dance studio.

Okay, here's some updates...

On Saturday, October 4th, Menehune Mac is opening a store full of locally made products at Kahala Mall in the old Blush spot. In addition to their fabulous chocolates (and I really do mean fabulous!), they have all sorts of jerky, seasoning salts, salad dressings, jams, jellies, teas,locally made granola and of course, berry sweet bath & body products. I can tell you that Susan will be carrying our waterless hand cleansers, lip balms, cuticle balms, lip scrubs and travel massage bars. As the month goes on, we'll slowly add more items to her inventory. The idea behind this adorable little shop is to go in and choose items for gifts and gift baskets. I can tell you that Eric and I will probably be there on Saturday, not only to support Susan but to shop! We were in there tonight and we couldn't help checking things out. Menehune Mac will be opening a second holiday store in November at Windward Mall, spot to be announced.

Craft Show Schedule:

October 24-26th, Season's Best Craft & Gift Expo at the Neil Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. I believe friday, the hours are 4-9pm, saturday 9am-7pm and sunday 9am-4pm. We'll be in booth #222.

November 9th, Diamond Head Arts & Crafts Fair at KCC, from 9am to 2pm. We'll be in our usual booth #145 and mom will be in her usual booth #62.

November 28-30, Islandwide Craft Fair at the Neil Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. Friday hours are 5-10pm, Saturday 10am-10pm and Sunday 10am-5pm. We'll be in booths #194 & 195.

December 6th, Berry Sweet Holiday Show at Waialae Elementary School Library from 9am to 3pm. This is a show that we are putting on for our customers and any one else who'd like to check things out. We are inviting a few friends and family members who do crafts to come and join us for this show. Although we think this show is going to be great, please do not wait until the last minute to purchase things from us! We will have the most amount of product in time for the Islandwide show, but keep in mind that we also do the most business at the Islandwide show.

More details will be provided about each of the shows as we get closer and I know what the heck I'm doing. I'm currently buried under wholesale orders, special orders and a toddler who has just reached the "separation anxiety" stage. Kira won't even go to grandma willingly and she's been playing with grandma almost everyday for the last 3 months.

One last thing, and I promise it'll be the only time I'll ever say anything regarding politics in my blog, but I feel so strongly about it that I have to say something:

if you don't want our GET to go up again, if you don't want our property taxes to go up again and if you feel the rail is not going to do enough to alleviate traffic (like ALL of the studies conducted says it won't), DO NOT VOTE FOR MUFI. To fund the rail, our GET will have to go up AGAIN and so will our property taxes, don't let MUFI snow you into thinking the feds are going to help us with funding because its not written in stone, and even then, its probably a small fraction (a lot smaller than he's leading all of us to believe) of the total bill, and since when has a project in Hawai'i been finished on time and within budget?

I can tell you that we moved into our home in 2004 and since then, our property taxes have almost doubled. I am only voting for Kobayashi, not because I think she's less dirty or that she's a better choice, I am voting for her because SHE'S NOT MUFI!!! The project is going to cost around $6 billion, where do you think that money's going to come from? Don't forget that instead of giving us a break in our property taxes, Mufi decided that he's going to use some of our taxpayers money to hold a carnival every year to "give back to the community." I'd rather have that money back in my pocket so I can put it back into the economy as I see fit.

Also, don't forget about how he turned the parade celebrating our local athletes into a "team Mufi" debacle - all I remember was his lackeys wearing "team Mufi" shirts when he was leading the parade. Shouldn't it have been "Team Hawai'i"? Or at the very least "Team Honolulu" if you want to make the argument that the parade was organized the the C&C of Honolulu. Talk about turning something that should have been a proud moment for all of us into a political rally for himself.

Wanna talk about the debate? It showed me how much Mufi and his supporters lacked in class. If nothing else, out of respect for his competition, he should have asked his supporters to let his competitors be heard, it would have been the right thing to do, the honorable thing to do, don't you think? Let's all not forget the Ala Wai clean up, which to date is STILL NOT completed and grossly over budget. What does Mufi have to say about it? Its not his fault. What about the trash issue? Not going to be a problem during his term so he doesn't care.

Oh, and "a man of the people" thing? Don't fool yourself. I don't know about you but my parents couldn't afford to send me to Iolani.

Mufi seems to love pointing fingers in every direction except in his - lack of accountability, lack of integrity, lack of honor and totally out of touch with what the people want. He's counting on our memories being short to get him into office for a second term, don't let that happen. If you agree with me, let your voice be heard and vote AGAINST Mufi.

What a trip this has been! The Made in Hawai'i Festival is going on throughout this weekend at the NBC Exhibition Hall and Arena. We are in the arena, in booths #380 and 381. the hours are friday and saturday 10am to 9pm and sunday 10am to 5pm.

I did manage to finish a lot of the car fresheners in the following fragrances: satsuma guava, shave ice, fresh linen, ume blossom, white tea & ginger, lemon drops, mango tea, summer love, sweet lavender, jasmine green tea, wasabi blossom, plumeria and apricot chamomile.

We also finished the escape pods in the following scents: satsuma guava, wasabi bliss, jasmine green tea, mango tea, summer love, and sweet lavender.

We also have a fairly good variety of sets for you to choose from.

I've also blended some new lip balm flavors, namely, satsuma guava (grapefruit, guava and a little orange), and guava passion. Guava passion is kind of an homage to our favorite childhood drink - POG -.

The solid perfumes are almost done. The shampoo bars have been labeled and ready to sell. Same with the travel massage bar.

I'm sorry to cut this short, I've been up for almost 38 hours now and I can barely keep my eyes open! I'll post more later!

carri

Our huge shipment of supplies from the mainland has finally arrived and we're going full pace (well, as full paced as Kira will let me!). I've just completed almost 2000 tubes of cuticle balm and they're off to mom for labeling and taping.

Now, its on to lip balm. All 3500 tubes of them. Yes, you read correctly - 3500 tubes.

I do have to say that the new travel massage bar tubes are totally adorable. Way cuter than I originally thought they'd be by a mile. Same with the new boo boo balm tins. I finally found a 1/2-ounce metal tin with a threaded lid that didn't require me to buy a few thousand of them. I love it.

I'm especially excited to be releasing some new gift sets. You're just going to have to wait and see.

Sorry to be a brat, but I just wanted to tease all of you with some information about what's been going on here.

See you in a month at the Made in Hawai'i Festival!

carri

Hi everyone! Happy Independence Day! Yes, we're still alive even though it seems we've been quiet.

We've spent the past couple of months trying to sort through all of the store's inventory, trying to figure out what to keep and what to toss, which products to continue making and which to discontinue. All the while, kira is growing up before our very eyes.

We are going to be at the Made in Hawai'i Festival, August 15th-17th in booths #380 &381 in the arena. We decided to go with two booths this year because we really needed the additional space. We're planning to have kira with us more often than not so we needed a space for her to be in and well, after last year, we realized that there just wasn't enough room for all of you to comfortably look around and that kinda hindered a lot of you (and us!)

Okay, so with that in mind, what are we bringing? Almost everything including the kitchen sink! Just kidding - well, kinda. Here's a list:

Lip balms - we've secured a good amount of your favorite flavors so we're off pouring. Can you believe it? In order to make our production schedule of goods, I've had to order in almost 3000 tubes. Yikes!

Cuticle Balms - will be available in 9 fragrances including some of your favorites like wasabi bliss and white tea and ginger.

Lip Scrub - so far, the 8 flavors are still holding strong. this includes the new vanilla latte and green tea smoothie - both I just absolutely love!

Shampoo bars - I've got 12 fragrances on the board to be made including many favorites like summer love, wasabi bliss, satsuma guava and island girl.

Body Souffle - I know at least a good dozen or so of you who would do bad things to my car if I didn't bring these with us.

Drawer & Closet Sachets - I'm making more, I promise and I'm making more than I did last year so hopefully they'll make it past the Diamond Head craft show this year. For those of you who don't know about these, we made our own version of the paper drawer sachet envelopes last year. We made 500 of them in 12 fragrances and although we hardly moved any at the Made in Hawai'i show, we sold ALL of them at the Diamond Head show and many of you we're coming into the store looking for more!

Car & Room Fresheners - these are coming back as well. we're offering quite a few new fragrances including the unusual and alluring ume blossom and the unisex and enchanting white tea & ginger. the usual favorites will be there as well such as satsuma guava, shave ice, lemon drops and sweet lavender. we are heartbroken to announce that one of the fragrance components of the shave ice fragrance has been discontinued by one of our suppliers so until we find a replacement, what we have on hand for shave ice is all we have.

Travel Packs - updated and plentiful! The new travel packs will contain our waterless hand cleanser instead of our hand and body lotion (you have the body souffle as a moisturizer anyway) and we've added in a lip scrub and cuticle balm. The result? More bang for your buck wrapped up in a totally cute bag!

Escape pods - as if we'd ever leave this behind. Wasabi bliss was one of the new fragrances last year and I've got to tell you, I was really surprised that so many of you liked it! This is the one fragrance I've gotten the most calls about and the most requests in ready-to-scent for. Needless to say, we're bringing more this year!

Goodie Bags - they're back! We didn't do many of them last year and so many of you cried. So they're back and in force. I guess I have to get hubby ready - some of you wanted them so badly that he got pushed out of the way more than a couple of times!

Reed Diffusers - we only brought the medium ones with us last year and this year, we're bringing the smaller ones so keep and eye out for these!

The gift sets. Quite a few different varieties in very affordable price ranges. I can assure you, though, all of them are an excellent value for the dollar!


Some items are coming with a new twist. Before it all becomes too confusing, I'll put it in a list format.

Massage bars - I don't know if many of you got to see the new travel massage bars before we closed the retail side, it was in a miniature deodorant tube. I've managed to find an even more compact tube that is even cuter than the old one! I also want to make a bar sampler in a tin but we'll see how far I get.

Solid perfumes are getting a make over as well. I've found these wonderful little compacts that are just so cute and sweet, I had to use them. Solid perfumes seem to be all the rage now days, along with roll-on perfumes. These will be available in 9 fragrances and in a few gift sets.

Our roll on perfumes, which many of you loved but had bottle issues last year, we've redone that, too, moving to glass ones instead. These are the same compact size as last year's version but no more breaking tops, unless you drop them, of course.

Boo boo balm - I've noticed more and more of you preferring pots for home and tubes for purse. I've finally found the kind of metal tins I've always wanted for this product line at a quantity I was willing to deal with so I've ordered them. You'll have to see it to understand my adoration of this little 1/2 ounce tin.


We are going to be offering some new items such as our hot cocoa bubble bath mix. Its not the liquid like last year's one but a powder in an envelope. Its smells so good!!! There's a few more items up my sleeve but well, after the fourth night in a row with less than 4 hours of sleep, I can't seem to think of the other products right now.

With the store closing we've paired down our standard fragrance offerings to 6 instead of 8. We've dropped poshie, ambrosia, breathe and lemon drops and added in wasabi bliss, satsuma guava (to replace ambrosia) and jasmine green tea (to replace poshie). These "discontinued" fragrances will still be making cameo appearances here and there so please don't be too upset and if you really need to get that lemon drops shower gel, I can still make that for you!


Okay, on to the kira update. She's doing well. Her nine month check up (yes, she's already nine months old!) last week puts her at 19 pounds 6 ounces and just over 27 inches in height. So that 75th percentile for weight (down from her 90-95 percentile) and 50th percentile for height. She cut three teeth in the past two weeks (te first two in two days with the third following less than a week after) with the fourth one (hopefully) out today. Fitting, seeing as its independence day. She's been "walking" around the house for almost a week-and-a-half now. She lets go of the couch or whoever or whatever she's got a hold of and starts taking her steps. They are becoming a lot more purposeful and steady so its only a matter of a little while more until she takes more than 6 steps before sitting down. She likes climbing on things. She's managed to stand from a sitting position (nothing around her to help her up) twice so far. She loves to dance and listen to music and watch other children. She was sleeping through the night until she started cutting teeth and then everything shot to hell again but well, she'll eventually get there again. She's eating gerber puffs and crackers and its so cute watching her feed herself - she's so serious and thoughtful while doing it. Hubby keeps reminding me that this is why we didn't get the expensive berber put in just yet - our poor carpet!

Anyway, back to work with me! I hope all of you have a great and safe holiday weekend!

carri

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been! I must admit, it was pretty strange seeing the store completely empty and void of any personality. I sat in the same spot on the floor as I did just over two years ago and looked around in wonder. I remember all the feelings of hope and possibility that I felt that time ago, and oddly enough, I still feel the same feelings now. I know that I will miss seeing all of you on a regular basis. Many of you have become friends and I have thoroughly enjoyed your company - even if it was just to play with Kira after she was born. Its been a crazy couple of years but I wouldn't trade it for anything! Many of you have stopped in to say bye, but please understand that we're not really going anywhere!

I've been saying that we're going about our business in a new way. I really have been torn between trying to be a good mommy, a good wife and a good business person. I have my priorities straightened out and I feel that although my family will always come first, I do have a responsibility to all of you so with that in mind, this is what we've come up with:

1. We will participate in as many craft and trade shows as possible throughout the year. Namely, Islandwide in May and November, Made in Hawaii in August and Diamond Head Arts & Crafts Show in November for starters.

2. We will work on putting on our own private shows at least twice a year starting next year. We may do one later this year, probably in September or October and another in December for all of you late shoppers. The September/October one will be somewhat interactive with product demonstrations and classes. Many of you have asked about our classes and were disappointed that I've had to stop having them due to a difficult pregnancy. These classes that we're thinking of will be similar to those that you've come to know and love and will include our wonderful pal - Teri!

3. We will work on putting together a "berry sweet" home party plan and procedure for anyone who's interested. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this concept, think of Tupperware or Stampin' Up! parties where an individual hosts the party and invites a bunch of friends. We do product demonstrations and talk story. Attendees are welcome to place orders which will be filled in a timely fashion. The host/hostess receives a thank you gift for their time and hospitality. It doesn't even have to be at someone's home; we've been asked to go to various offices during lunch hour to do the same thing. Its pretty neat but clear it with your boss first! We can even do classes for you, too!

4. We are in the process of updating our website. I've got the web monkey willing to turn our site into an e-commerce site but that probably won't get done until the summer. He has promised to update our website with product information as soon as I get the copy to him.

5. We will do a limited run of printed catalogs. I have found a potential printer and am in the process of working on copy and pictures for all of our products.

6. Weeding out our mailing list. I will be sending out a snail-mail postcard to EVERYONE on our mailing list. It will be asking for email addresses and a response if you're still interested in getting our show schedule postcards and printed catalog. Sorry, those that don't respond will be taken off our mailing list. I feel bad for killing trees and postage is starting to get out-of-hand, especially with a mailing list of our size!

So that's the plan for now. On to the rest of the updates!

Our store phone number has been transferred so if you need anything, please call the old store number and leave a message if I don't pick up! Don't be shy about placing orders thinking that you're bothering or inconveniencing me in some way - I really don't mind! As I've mentioned before, I don't mind driving out to drop off an order as long as its within reason. Otherwise, I'll pop it in the mail to you.

We will be at Waialae School on Saturday, April 19th for their Fun Day that happens only once every other year. We will be in the cafeteria in booth #2. The event runs from 9am to 2pm. Please come out and support this wonderful and innovative charter school!

We have confirmation that we will be at the Islandwide Spring Craft & Gift Expo at the NBC Exhibition Hall, May 2-4. The hours of the show are Friday the 2nd 5-10pm, Saturday the 3rd 10am-9pm and Sunday the 4th 10am-5pm. We will be in booth #316, which is near the waikiki entrance of the exhibition hall.

We have sent in our application to the Made in Hawai'i show for August. Information will be announced as soon as we have it.

I think that's it for now. Thank you to all of you for your words of support and understanding. Its been pretty crazy and in the process of closing the store, I've met many people who have been opening their doors to me and berry sweet bath & body. It's very true when they say when one door closes, another opens!

I hope to see you at the either the Waialae Fun Day this Saturday or during the first weekend in May! Take care!

carri

Okay, so here's what's going on with us at the current moment:

We are in the process of packing up our inventory, selling off our furniture and display items, including our crackseed jars, penny candy jars and so forth.

As of right now, we have 16 crackseed jars available and 18 penny candy jars. I have decided to let go 12 of our little lip balm jars. I had to hunt all over the country (literally, calling every Pier 1 shop between Hawai'i and New York) to find them so I'm more than a little hesitant to part ways with them. We also have a lot of galvanized buckets that are great for plants, gift baskets or whatever you can think of. I know that I'll be using at least 45 of them for Kira's first birthday party for centerpieces.

If any of you are shop owners or know of a shop owner, I have floating shelves for slat-panel walls that are absolutely fabulous and strong. I will include the appropriate number of brackets with each shelf. They are about 14 inches deep and I have either 4 or 6 foot lengths available. They hold a lot of weight and they were such a wonderful find!

ON SATURDAY, APRIL 5th, the store will be open between 10am to 3pm. We will still be in the process of packing up so pardon our mess but you are still more than welcome to come in and shop.

I still have the following in stock and available for sale at a discount:
Rubber Duckies at 50% off, the large rubber duckies are 75% off
Selected Berry Sweet Bath & Body products are 50% off
Tea Forte Tea Bags at 50% off
Warm Whiskers (microwave heated aromatherapy animals) at 75% off
Aquis - hair towels, washcloths and doggie towels at 30% off
Misc. bath accessories - loofah or sisal sponges, wooden salt scoops, loofah-on-a-stick, nylon puff-on-a-stick (excellent for the back and feet), etc., on sale at 50% off
Sassy Baby tub toys and accessories are on sale for 75% off
Botanicus Candles are on sale for 75% off
Assorted Galvanized buckets, sale price $2-$20 each depending on its size
Assorted wooden baskets (excellent for gift baskets or plants), sale price $2 to $15 depending on size
Assorted Bath Fizzies, Tub Tints, Bath Bombs and Bath Confetti at 50% off
I'm sure I'm missing some items so come in and check it out!

Items still in stock available for sale NOT at a discounted rate:
Travel Massage Bars in sweet lavender and eucalyptus spearmint
Shampoo Bars in 9 assorted fragrances
Mango Butter lip balms in 16 assorted flavors
Lip Scrubs in 6 assorted flavors
Car & Room Freshener Beads in 8 assorted fragrances
Boo Boo Balm in either the pot or tube version
Cuticle Balm in 3 fragrances
Rose Topiaries, 2 sizes and a multitude of colors

As for shows, it looks like we will be at the Islandwide Spring show the first weekend in May at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. I'll post up more once I find out what booth we'll be in.

We may be at the Waialae School Fun Day on April 19th as a crafter in the cafeteria. I'll post more on that when I figure things out.

If you have any questions or need further information, please feel free to call the store and leave a message.

Hope to see you soon!
carri

This is probably one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make and I think I'm making the best one for me and my family at this time. After months of thinking it over and agonizing over a course of action, we have decided to close the retail side of berry sweet bath & body.

A big part of me is sadden by my decision, however, I must acknowledge that motherhood has really taken me by surprise with exactly how much work and dedication is needed to raise a healthy and happy baby. In fact, I'm still a little shell-shocked by the magnitude of it all. I didn't think that my priorities would change much after Kira arrived but they really have. I really thought that she'd be able to slide into my life after she was born but, as all mothers already know and I've learned the hard way, its not like that - your life needs to bend around your child's. She just seems to need me and a routine more than I originally thought she would. But as I see it, putting a dream on hold for a couple of years to raise a happy, healthy, confident and secure child is a small price to pay.

Now, where does that leave all of you? I haven't forgotten to plan for all of you in this mayhem. As of right now, we are planning to continue on with craft shows (which is where most of you visit us, anyway) and wholesale. We are also planning our own private events to be held periodically in which our customers can come to a location and purchase items. And at these events, we are also planning to have some classes and demos, which many of you have asked about throughout the year. Of course, our favorite Stampin' Up! gal, Teri, will be there with her own additions to our projects - just to make things more interesting.

As of right now, we are planning to be at the Islandwide Spring Show in May, Made in Hawai'i in August, Season's Best in October, Diamond Head (KCC) and Islandwide Craft & Food Expo in November. As for our own events, we're thinking about July and definitely December for this year - especially for those of you who need those last minute items around the holidays. We will post more information about these events as we know more here on our blog and for those of you on our mailing list, we'll send out the usual postcards. If you have email, as soon as I figure out the mass e-mail thing, I'll start using that, too.

We are currently looking for other little boutiques to carry some of our more popular items, so you can still get them on a regular basis. We currently have boutiques Maui, Kauai, California and Japan that carry some of our items. In the meantime, we are looking at creating a product catalog to be updated quarterly as well as an online catalog that can be viewed on our website once the dust from closing settles. So basically, mail order will become much easier (flat rate priority mail boxes are our friends!) and if you're relatively close to town, deliveries or drop offs can be arranged. If you are interested in the print catalog, please email me your name, if you are already on our mailing list. If not, please email me with your name, address and verify your email address for me. The phone number will stay the same even after our closure so you can still get a hold of us via phone.

I'm also thinking about house and office parties that would be similar to tupperware parties. I could come to your home or office (as long as your boss is cool with it!) and show off some of our products to you and your friends/colleagues. The orders would be delivered within a week or two after. Still in the process of trying to put it together in my head but if you're interested, please let me know so I think a little faster!

With the retail store closing, it will give me a chance to focus on the items that are unique to us and all of you love so much. Trim the fat, they say. I really think this is the best way and we'll look at doing a retail store again when Kira is a little older. I would say to keep checking here and on our actual website for updates as to what products we're keeping and what we're doing away with. If you have any products that you absolutely love, now would be the time to say so!

So with all of the above said, its time for a "fire" sale. Most of our stock will be at 25-50% off for this coming week. Most of our store fixtures will be available for sale, just talk to me about making arrangements for after the store closes. All of our beautiful shelving and floating shelves need to go (I have no place to store them). We will also be selling most our penny candy jars, "crackseed" jars, and display props, too.

As of right now, Tea Forte, Warm Whiskers, Cocoa Room, and rubber duckies are 50% off. The rest will be determined when I get back into the store on Tuesday. I would strongly suggest coming in and stocking up on some of your favorite items. Our next show is in May. Secretary's Day ( aka Administrative Assistant's Day) is coming up next month. May is Mother's Day, Graduations, and end of school in which many of you purchase little gift items for your children's teachers. Some of you also purchase little items for your children's friends at the end of school, too. Just some gift-giving occasions that are coming up that we won't be open for.

Anyway, I can't believe we're going into our last week of being open. This was such a hard decision to make in such a short period of time but I think its the right one for me and my family. I am so incredibly grateful to all of you who have stood by us the past couple of years. I really hope that you'll continue to think of us from time to time as I'll be thinking of all of you. This really isn't a goodbye, but hopefully, a way to make things work out for all of our benefit. Call it the "Kira Re-Structuring." Who knows? Maybe I'll get around to making jewelry again, too!

I hope to see most of you this coming week. If not, then hopefully at a future show. In the meantime, if you desperately need something between the closing of the store and the next show, feel free to call or email and I'll do my best to get it to you.

Thank you again for all of your aloha and support!
carri

This month we celebrate 2 years of berry sweet bath & body. Hard to believe that its been that long already but time does fly!

In honor of this momentous occasion, we are offering a 15% discount on your entire purchase with us from March 15th through the 29th. If you come in on Tuesday, March 18th (our original grand opening date), we will offer a 20% discount. For those customers on our mailing list, keep an eye out for a lime green postcard from us - we've got a special offer just for you! Our hours are still the same Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 11am to 3pm, Saturdays 10am to 3pm, and closed on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. I will be in the store for these hours until the end of the month, even if the princess is fussy, so try to hang in there with me if I'm more than a little frazzled!

Speaking of the mailing list, for everyone who is already on our list with their snail-mail addresses, if you could send me your email addresses or give it to me when you redeem your postcards, that would be great! Postage has been getting out of control and I overheard that its going up again in May. I think it would be great to be able to just email updates and specials to you, just don't send me to your spam folder!

Okay, I've been working on restocking the store and its been going a little more slowly than originally anticipated but I have got some items done:

We have our waterless hand cleansers, the pocket-size, back in stock in all 8 signature fragrances.

Boo-boo balms in the pots and tubes were poured today and I'll be labeling them this week. If you want them, please feel free to ask and I'll label them on the spot for you if none are ready.

Lip scrubs in the small size are 75% done, including the two new flavors of vanilla latte and green tea smoothie - I love these new flavors and I think you will, too! They are almost ready to sell, I just have to box them up. I still have three more flavors that I have to make, including enchanted apple but the rest are done. We'll also be working on restocking the lip balm bar, too. I didn't realize we were out of mojito until a customer called asking for it today. Oops!

Shampoo bars are the tricky ones. I am hoping to get them done this coming week in time for the kick off of our anniversary promotion. I will probably go wide with the fragrances but only one batch each - something is better than nothing, right? Anyway, as soon as they are done, I will start calling all of those on the waiting list - don't worry, I still have all of your names and requested fragrances.

Massage bars are also on the production board. I have a new twist for you on them for those of you who'd like a less messy form of application. I've decided to put 3 of the massage bars into twist up tubes - the scents are sweet lavender, satsuma guava, and eucalyptus spearmint. They will still sell for $6 each but I think this form makes it easier to transport and use. The original form of the massage bars will still be available for the purists out there. I still have the original bar form at home but I think I'd like to take the tubed one on vacation with me.

The Car and Room Fresheners are back in stock. These are the organza bags with the beads, not the paper sachet ones. We currently have shave ice, bliss, hawaiian rainforest, summer love, satsuma guava, lemon drops, plumeria, sweet lavender and poshie available.

Speaking of the paper sachets that everyone seems to be asking me about I did find 3 large asian plum sachets hiding in a box in the corner the other day for anyone who's interested! First come, first to get it! I'll be making them again in time for the Made in Hawai'i Festival in August but probably not sooner.

A lot of you have been asking for our roll-on perfumes and solid perfumes. I'm looking at changing the bottles for the roll on perfumes back to glass and I'm still trying to locate a vendor for them. As for the solid perfumes, I'm also looking for a cool new packaging for that one, too. Hopefully, it'll be up soon.

We are totally out of our small reed diffuser bottles. We have the medium and large sizes still in stock. Same as always, you pick the scent and I'll make it for you. I'm thinking about making a travel version of our reed diffusers so when you leave home, you can take a little bit of it with you. Its small and it will contain about 1 oz of fluid so it can totally pass those pesky TSA agents. It will contain about 5 or 6 sets of sticks so you can throw a set away when you're ready to pack it up. Totally sweet and cute on the bedside table!

I am totally overwhelmed by the positive feedback our Wasabi Bliss fragrance has been getting! My hubby was more than a little skeptical when I first blended it but I was totally in love and very pregnant at the time. Smart man to not argue with a pregnant woman. Anyway, I will be putting it in the shampoo bars, as requested by many of you, cuticle balm and solid perfume. If you want it in the body souffle and other products, as long as its available in the ready-to-scent line, you can have it! I have the itch to start blending again...

Wait until you see what we've got in store for our bath salts! Its going to be great! No more guessing how much salt to use, or sitting on salt rocks in the bath! I love them, they are simply adorable and easy to travel with for plane weary bodies. Or heck, just weary bodies in general. They will be sold singly or by the set in our cute signature blue boxes. I'll leave the rest a secret - I have to give you something to look forward to!

Things have been a little crazy and I want to say thank you for hanging in there with me! Kira is still in the throws of teething (the pediatrician says it'll be a couple more weeks until that bugger shows itself) and therefore its next to impossible to get anything done without an extra set of hands. Unfortunately, my mother-in-law is going to vegas during our anniversary promotion so please be patient with me if I seem distracted. Sleep is becoming a commodity for me.

I think I've written enough for now. Thank you again for all of your support and patronage! I hope to see you during our celebration!

carri

okay, I went a little MIA (missing in action) this week. Curtis was in town (and he's only in town like once a year at best) so I wanted to spend a little time with my two siblings and let him get acquainted with kira and to spend a little time with her great-grandma and the rest of our family on kauai for a couple of days. I hope those of you who stopped by can forgive me for my little unexpected and unannounced vacation. Curtis goes home tomorrow and I'm a little sad but well, we all have our lives to lead...

Anyway, I will be back in the store on tuesday, working on an order. The store hours will resume as normal of Tuesday, Thursday, Friday from 11am to 3pm and Saturday 10am-3pm. And as before, if you need to come in on the days we are off or stay longer/come in earlier, I will be more than happy to, just call and make arrangements with me for an appointment.

I have finally finished our store inventory so that means I can start making more stuff again! Top of the priority list is shampoo bars, lip scrubs (including the two new flavors), massage bars, handmade soap, cupcake bubble bath bombs, cupcake soaps, and working on my berry sweet mama line. So if you have any special requests for fragrances, now is the time to ask! Just because I'm not physically in the store, doesn't mean I'm not working - I'm still coming up with fabulous ideas for new products that I think many of you will love!

Anyway, I'll be working on some valentine's goodies once I'm done with this order. I'll post more once I have some solid product and hopefully, you'll stop in soon!

carri

Sorry for having to close the store today, I was really looking forward to going in and seeing who pops by for a visit. For some reason my sinuses are out of control during the evenings making it nearly impossible to get a good night's rest - well as good a night's sleep as a nursing mother can get, anyway. Claritin has not helped me one bit so far...argh.

I'll be in definitely by Thursday, sniffling or not. I may sound like I swallowed a frog but I'll be there, I promise.

I will be in for a short time tomorrow. I have a couple of special orders that need to be picked up and a wholesale order to deliver so if you're in the area and see the open sign on for a little while, feel free to come in.

While I'm at home (hubby took kira to work with him to give me some time to rest), I've been scheming for 2008. Hubby is pushing me to release my "berry sweet mama" line, which is based on the various concoctions that I created to help get me though my own pregnancy. This includes a special version of our massage bar that I used on my belly to help ease the stretching and I can honestly say, I didn't get one stretch mark. Also coming up in the works is preggo-friendly smelling massage bars, body souffle, and so forth - everything that I used to pamper myself during my special time. I'm thinking if I can get this up in time for the baby expo in May, I may just debut it there!

I'm still thinking about doing that home line, so if anyone is interested, feedback would be greatly appreciated! This may consist of things like linen water, room & linen spray, drawer sachets, reed diffusers and other scented goodies for around the home. I have four fragrances in mind but your input would be nice so please email me!

Anyway, I'm going back to bed for some much needed sleep. I'll see you on thursday if you pop by.

carri

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

I apologize for my "unannounced" absence this past week. We usually close the week between Christmas and New Years and we were in such a rush to get out of the store on Saturday (the 22nd) that I forgot to put up a sign and change the answering machine message, as evident by the 29 messages waiting for me this morning.

Anyway, I should be back in the store on January 3rd from 11am to 3pm. I'll be mostly cleaning up and taking year-end inventory levels so please forgive me if the store looks in disarray.

As 2007 comes to a close, I have a little time to reflect on the past year. And what a crazy year its been on both store front and in my personal life. For the store, we have seen tremendous growth in spite of a difficult pregnancy that made working the usual hours next to impossible. We've seen the creation of our newest and hottest product - our lip scrub. We've also started planning the demise of some of our slower moving products and fragrances. I think 2008 will be a year of streamlining and trimming the fat for us.

On a personal front, experiencing motherhood for the first time has taken me completely by surprise. I really didn't think it would change anything, that I would be that woman who could and does do it all. Surprisingly, I know could do it all but I'm finding that I'd rather not - that its okay for the rat race to have one less rat. Its a strange feeling to come to terms with. Instead of planning my next "big move," I'd rather be watching Kira's eyelashes come in. I was often told this would happen but I never really thought it would happen to me. She is, after all, the one gift I was beginning to think I'd never be blessed with, so I like to take the time to cherish her - even if it means typing one-handed like I am now.

We are thankful to all of you for your words of encouragement, support and praise in all aspects from parenting to business and our products. Have a safe and happy new year and we will see you soon.

Carri, Kira and daddy

Life has been crazy as usual around here. I've been filling wholesale orders, mail orders to the mainland and Japan, as well as trying to restock the store. Thank you to everyone for their patience.

The reason for the question mark in the subject line above is because I haven't even had time to decorate the store or find holiday music! Yikes, let just hope that Kira doesn't remember this particular Christmas.

Anyway our store hours for the upcoming week are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 11am to 3pm, Wednesday from 11am to 2pm (I'm in there for a special order so I might as well open the shop for all of you!) and Saturday from 10am to 3pm. Call us if you need other hours. For example, we've been staying late on most days trying to restock the store and if we're there, even if its 4pm, we keep the store open unless I'm really trying to get out of there to do an airport run. I have to do an airport run on Tuesday so I need to get out of there on time.

We will be closed between Christmas Eve and January 7th, returning on January 8th. Our store hours after the new year will be Tuesday, Thursday & Friday from 11am to 3pm and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm. We'll see how January goes and determine the store hours from there (i.e., if Fridays are slow then I'll close on Fridays and possibly extend tuesday and thursday's hours).

Stock updates: We've poured our more popular flavors of lip balm - gummi bears, orange creamsicle, strawberry candy, cucumber melon, sugar kisses, etc. - and they are ready for sale.

Shampoo bars - we currently have satsuma guava, cherry blossom, bliss, wasabi bliss, and jasmine green tea. We are out of summer love, even though I just made two batches, and hopefully I'll get more done within the next two days but the other fragrances are just as nice!

Massage bars are still out of stock and I don't know when I'll get around to them.

Boo Boo Balm - we have them available in the tubes on special right now. The tops are a little runny but once you get past that top 1/8-inch, you should be golden. We have only about a dozen tubes left so if you want them, call me so I can hold it for you!

Cupcake soaps - we have one left.

Waterless Hand Cleansers - I have Mango Tea ans Summer Love made right now and we'll see about the rest of the fragrances. Before you get too excited, please know that its only a couple of tubes so if you want them, call!

Car and Room Fresheners - we have satsuma guava, shave ice, bliss and raspberry lemonade currently made and ready to go in limited quanitites.

Room Reed Diffusers - we are still out of the small size. We have four bottles of the medium size still available plus two Sugar Cane already preboxed and ready to go.

Rose Soap Topiaries - still holding steady but barely.

Lip Scrubs - the large size lip scrubs are on special for $7.50 through the holidays regular $10.00 each. We have limited amounts of the small sizes in pearberry, enchanted apple, mojito and strawberry lime. I'll see if I can get the remaining 4 done on tuesday. We are discontinuing Chardonnay and Nectarines - while I really like those flavors, it appears that not many share my taste in that department. They will be replaced with vanilla latte and green tea smoothie - another two of my favorites so I hope you like them! They will probably make their appearance next year though.

Cuticle Balm - I have a couple of tubes left and they are freshly made ones, too. Summer love and wasabi bliss right now. I think I can get to the others in a couple of days.

We still have a good selection of Tea Forte items. I've placed an order for the Aquis Exfoliating Shower Towel that many of you are asking for and the Aquis Hair towels, too. They should be in this week - I hope. If you need any of these items, please call me and I can put them on hold for you.

Okay, I think that's it for the product updates on our more popular items!

take care and I hope to see you soon!
carri

Okay, life has been more than a little crazy lately...

We did very well at the Diamond Head show on November 18th and absolutely through the roof during the Islandwide Craft Expo Thanksgiving weekend. So well, in fact, that we are scrambling to make more product just to get us through the holidays!

I just wanted to say thank you to my mom, Hilda, my mom-in-law, Lillian, and Eric for pulling the long hours to make sure that we'd have enough product to sell during these shows. Thank you to Teri and Jill for being there to help us sell during the Thanksgiving show - there was no way we could've done it all without you! Thank you to my darling daughter, Kira, for being so good and understanding while I had to be away from her and trying to be extra good when she was at the store with me! Last of all, thank you to all of you for your continued support and patronage - berry sweet bath and body would be nothing without you.

I've been getting a lot of calls about our holiday hours. Right now, I have them set at Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 11am-3pm and Saturday from 10am to 3pm. I am doing my best to stick to them with Saturday being the only absolute. Today, for example, I didn't get in until noon. Kira and I are still a little under the weather and I made the last minute decision to leave her at home and therefore had to wait for my mom-in-law to come home to babysit her. I'll try to get better but well, she's still young and we're still trying to get things in order.

Just to give all of you a heads up, we will be closing for the holidays a little early this year. We will be leaving on vacation on the 20th to visit Kira's great-grandmother and returning on Christmas Eve. I will open the store on the 29th from 10am to 2pm for those of you needing hostess gifts for the New Years. We'll see if I can convince mom to open the store on the 22nd for all of you last minute shoppers.

The store is slowly beginning to look like a store again, rather than the disaster area it usually looks like before and following a show. We're starting to get product back on the shelves and hopefully, we'll have it up by the weekend. Currently, we're out of stock on shampoo bars, car & room fresheners, waterless hand cleansers, small gift baskets, take out boxes and massage bars. We're running low on lip balms, lip scrubs (all holiday flavors have sold out already) and miniatures. Again, hopefully we'll get some inventory back on the shelves by saturday. We can still do custom gift baskets so if you want to come in and put something together, we'd be more than happy to turn it into a gift basket for you.

Speaking of the holidays, if you're looking for hostess gifts, we have a fresh batch of foaming hand soap, room & linen sprays, and reed diffusers made for those of you who are looking for that special and unique gift for your holiday host/hostess. We also have a great selection of Tea Forte, including their new Sontu line of teapots and teacups. We also have Aquis hair towels and washcloths for those of you looking to sweeten up your guest bathroom or pamper a special someone.

Well, I'm off to do some of the massive production work now so I'll have something on the shelves this weekend!

take care and I hope to see you soon!
carri